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Recipe: Banoffee "Danger" Pie

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Do not adjust your sets - you haven't tuned into the wrong blog. Its still culinarily challenged me but this pie was so amazingly delish I had to share it. We had a chance encounter with its gooey yumminess in Africa. Luckily the camp manager was nice enough to share the recipe. I've made a few slight adjustments to account for American markets.

Meet Banoffe "Danger" Pie. Ban for banana + offee for toffee = Banoffe pie. If you are like me, you've never heard the term 'banoffee', no less tasted it. Non Americans are roling their eyes now as its nothing new but humor my astonishment - how has this dessert not won us Yankees over?

Why "danger"? Glad you asked. Danger is this pies middle name not only because is it tasty and calorically sinful but its also incredibly easy to make! A dangerous combination. If you are on a diet, avert your eyes.

Still with me? Lets get started. You will need:

3 bananas

1 tin of sweetened condensed milk

2 cups whipping cream

1 package of digestive biscuits or graham crackers

1 stick of butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 small bar of chocolate

If you don't mind using store bought ingredients you can cut down a lot on the steps but since I was posting it I figured I would make a proper version entirely from scratch just for you.

Your first step can be done way ahead of time (at least hours but can be as much as months before). Remove the label on the condensed milk and submerge the unopened can in pot of water. Cover and boil for 2.5 hours. Warning: Be sure to keep the can covered by water at all times!!

After requisite time has passed, take pot off the stove and allow the can to cool. In case you're wondering - you just made magic, er, toffee!

So you're ready with your toffee, its time to do the rest.

To make the crust (*You can skip this step entirely by buying a ready made graham cracker crust.)

Grind up digestive cookies in food processor.

Melt stick of butter in microwave and pour into crumb mixture.

Blend until you have a moist sand mixture.

Smooth wet crumbs into pie plate to make a crust.

Bake at 350F for 10 minutes.

Set aside to cool.

To make whipped cream (*You can skip this step entirely by using cool whip. )

Whip cold cream and vanilla on high until whipped

Set aside

Now its time to bring it all together. Cut up bananas into slices and lay into your crust. It doesn't matter how you arrange them really. Just go wild.

Open toffee can, mix with knife until smooth, pour on bananas.

Spread whipped cream over the whole mess.

Grate chocolate on top (optional)
Put in fridge to set for at least 2 hours.

356 comments:

Holy crap, that's amazing! I bet you could buy canned dulce de leche since you make homemade dulce by doing pretty much the same thing...WOW. I want to leave work right now, go to the store and make this. Possibly eat half of it before noon. My diet thanks you.

Looks absolutely sinful! I noticed in your list of ingredients, you said "condensed milk," but I think you meant to write "sweetened condensed milk" (as seen in your photo). I don't think the other would make toffee that way -- which is very clever.

As someone who is also challenged in the cooking department (my only specialties being rice or pasta - which works out nicely since I'm half Asian / half Italian!), this looks super simple and delicious!

I just shared a simple cupcake recipe over on our ol' blog yesterday. Great minds think alike.

I have family in the UK and last time I was there they tried to convince me that banoffee pie was of American origin. So now I have always wondered where it came from, as I have never seen it in the U.S. It still looks gorgeous, though.

I make this all of the time and the short cuts work great. It is a quick and easy preparation (say, the night of a dinner party) to use a pre-made graham cracker crust, whipped cream and canned dulce de leche. Tastes *almost* as good as from scratch (I usually prefer to use a less sweet biscuit for my crust to balance out the sweet toffee and whipped cream, but that is just me.)

i am an american who lived in england for 3 years. this was my favorite dessert!!! my american friends and i would seek out resturants that had this luxury on the menu. it is the best - and i too, am surprised that the american's haven't taken this recipe over the pond :) thanks for sharing.

I echo all the sentiments of the previous commenters...1. Sounds delicious2. How did I never know that that is how you can make dulce de leche?!?(I live in South Florida, so it is very popular given our large cuban population)

Just think Mrs. L, you can singlehandedly be responsible for making banoffee pie a new American favorite!

seriously? boil it for TWO AND A HALF HOURS on the stove top? keeping water in the pot the whole time? really?has anyone done this? is this right? i am sorry to be so incredulous but i have never boiled anything for 2 1/2 hours (and have never heard of dulce de leche)

The best way is to place a small saucer in the crock pot and place the 3 cans in there, cover with water and cook on low overnight. Let cool and use. Always perfect. Stove top method didn't always work for me.

okay, i wanted to make this SO BAD when I came across it this morning, so I checked and I had all the ingredients. Yay!!

I put the can in the pot with water to boil for 2 and 1/2 hours, and thought to myself i'd run a quick errand. BIG MISTAKE!!!! The water boiled out before I got back and the can EXPLODED and I spent the next 7 hours scrubbing "TOFFEE" from my walls, ceiling, etc. It was a mess!

It seems so easy and your rave reviews have me thinking that I'll need to make this.

For the record, I don't eat bananas BUT my son is starting school and I need to make desserts for several events during the school year. I think this will be on my list... and only because you make it sound amazing and my only goal is to win over every teacher and staff member by my amazing creations. Seriously, I only want to make stuff that will have people gushing over my family. :)

this sounds so awesome! you should have warned preggo women to stay away from this post. i'm probably going to cheat and either buy ready made toffee sauce or make it the old fashioned way (which i believe takes less than 2.5 hours?)

I just made this pie today from your recipe and can't wait to try it. My only concern is not putting a little bit of sugar in the whipping cream before whipping. I just did the vanilla and it was really bland. I'm wondering though if when the pie is cut all the other sweetness will combine with it and you won't even notice.

I'm in Texas and I've been making a similar pie since the 1960s. To brodyopt above--the whipped cream will be sweet enough when you eat it with the SCM, so adding sugar will be gilding the lily.

If you read the Sweet Potato Queen's book, she tells how to caramelize the milk (Eagle Brand is a brand name, but has become generic through the years) and calls it "Danger Pudding."

Like somebody said, BE CAREFUL when you do this. Once, when I was very young, I had two cans on the stove and forgot about them overnight. Next morning, one had opened and burned away. The other had exploded across the kitchen ceiling and into the living room. We had to repaint, and the underside of the cabinet next to the stove was a mass of solid caramel.

I open both ends of the can and push out the block of caramel and slice it. You can also use strawberries. Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra ice cream uses the caramelized SCM, too.

Thank you for posting this! I made this recipe for a family picnic in September and needless to say it dissappeared! Everyone was impressed with how the toffee is made. Tempting to keep it a secret!! I'm actually in the process of making it again for a get together and took your advice for boiling more than one can at a time... perfect to have extra toffee on hand for the holidays!

Anne, You can tell your UK relatives that Banoffee Pie is definitely a UK invention - it was created at the Hungry Monk Restaurant in Sussex, England http://www.hungrymonk.co.uk/ I've eaten there and of course had to have it's most famous dish - which was fabulous.

I can't believe I stumbled on your blog! I lived in the UK for a short time and LOVED Banoffie Pie but couldn't figure out how to make it in America! I found a lot of recipes that said to use the sweetened condensed milk but none of them said to boil it (you can imagine how that tasted!). I am trying this today! Thanks for posting this on Pinterest!

I just did a review of your pie on my blog. I tried to e-mail you about it but could find your e-mail address. I wanted to say THANKs for sharing this recipe! If you want to see the post you can go to www.lynnspin.com

You can also make this dulche de leche/toffee in a crockpot so it'll be ready when you get home from work or let it cook overnight and it'll be ready in the morning. Put the can in the crockpot and fully submerged and cook on low 8 hours. here's the link: http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2010/03/dulce-de-leche-in-crock-pot.html

Wow!! today seems to be Banoffie pie day for me. I've come across four blogs thars featured this recipe and like you I cant imagine how this amazinly easy recipe escaped my notice all this while. Looks absolutely yummy and I love the easy toffee idea. Genius!

Is the pie supposed to be " soupy"?, I made it a few days ago and the filling never set.......is there a trick to make it not so runny? It tasted fine....but as soon as I cut a piece.....the rest of the pie rushed in to fill in the missing piece...... Has anyone else had this problem as well?

Did you leave it in the fridge to cool for long enough? If it's at all warm, its not as firm. Also you might try cooking for a longer time or using less of the dulce de leche. A little goes a long way.

I just realized my mistake....I used 3 cans of milk.... Somehow I confused the 3 bananas and the picture of 3 cans in the boiling water........ No wonder it was so runny ( doyyyy ) .... It was delicious though......thank for all the inspiration that you give me!

Just be very careful, when you clamp your can opener down and poke into the lid, it can spray across the room....or into your eye, if you're looking directly at it and you don't flinch faster than the speed of toffee.....

So I made this tonight and it is the best thing on earth, however it came out really runny. is that normal??? I did everything as stated above as I bought a premade crest and used cool whip. Is the outcome suppose to be runny???

Yes, it sat in there for a few hours prior to cutting. I looked at pictures of other banofee pies and they looked so much more together. The only thing I can think of is maybe I cooked the condensed milk for too long? But it was cooked for a little longer than 2 hrs!

Weird, I just used the Store brand.. maybe that is why. Yes, it cooked for just under 2 1/2 hours. I made 2 cans... but only used 1. Should i maybe put the second can in boiling water for longer, see if maybe I do need to cook it for longer?? It was runny when I laid it over the bananas.

WAIT! I just read some comments (my comp set to read oldest to newest, so I reset them to feed newest to oldest) and saw some other with the same problem. It could well have been the milk I used (store brand)...I will try again with Carnation or even possibly use dulce con leche...Thanks!!!

Yes it seems some others have had the same issue. I've made it a ton of times and it always sets so I have no idea what could be different. Even before it sets, it comes out of the can pretty thick so I'm not sure why it's different for some.

Re the "setting" debate is it possible that some people may have used Evaporated Milk rather than Sweetened Condensed Milk, the tins look very similar (Well they do here in the UK) and the Evap definitely wouldn't thicken to the same degree. Just throwing another variable in to the mix :D

My family boils the sweet. con. milk all the time - we use Eagle Brand and boil it for about 3 hours then put it in the freezer to cool overnight. We've never had a problem with it being too thin. (The longer you boil it the darker the color. I wouldn't go over 3.5 hours.) I've never made this pie, we usually roll the caramel/toffee in nuts and serve it with apple slices. See... health food! Heh, heh. I would suggest taking a look at the website EagleBrand.com for some more amazing desserts. Thank you VERY much for the recipe and terrific instructions. I will certainly be making it this Christmas.

Thank you for sharing this recipe. I ordered a slice of an amazing banana pie at a resturant in London about 8 years ago. Since then I have never quite put my finger on the ingredients. Definitely going to try this for the holidays!

I used the word toffee because of the name Banoffee and assumed it was correct but as it has been mentioned above, the heaven in a can is actually dulce de leche. As far as I know, there isn't a one word subsitute for that.

I just thought you should know that I LOVE YOU! Thank you so much for posting this. I was just frantically searching the web for recipes to use for a fast-approaching Christmas party (Monday, the 19th) and just happened to find this!!

hi, Im Barbara from kentucky and I tried your pie recipe and it was fab.Had a few problems. I didnt realize the pie had to stay cold or frozen to prevent the toffee from running. I got confused and only but half the bananas in it....But my husband took them to work and after seeing them become running he stuck them in the freezer there and saved them. Later everyone ate and loved them. thanks for the fab recipe.

The toffee is the same as dulce de leche. You can save yourself some time if you just buy a can of dulce de leche instead of sweetened condensed milk. I usually scoop the dulce de leche into a glass pyrex measuring cup and zap in the microwave for 20 sec to loosen it up a bit so it will be easier to pour and spread onto the graham cracker base.

OK so I just made this today. It came out like soup...I made it the way it said (even boiled the cans last night so they cooled in time) What did i do wrong? When I ate this pie in Ireland, it had a good texture....Flavor is the same though...something isn't right though..HELP! :)

I made this last night with premade crust & reddi whip.The reddi whip WILTED and is all runny now. Next time I'll make the whip myself...However, I added PEANUTBUTTER to the whip and it added a great flavor to the pie and cuts a bit of the sweetness with savory peanut. I used about 2.5 tablespoons of Peanutbutter and folded the whipped cream in.

I just finished making this!! I am yet to try it but it looks like it turned out perfect!!! Is it normal for the toffee to be kind of chunky when you open it? I mixed it really well and most of the small chucks came out.

I just made this pie and it tastes great but very runny. I did read the comments about the pie being runny but was wonderding what sweet condensed milk everyone was using that dosen't have the runny problem. I am going to try and boil it longer to see if that helps.

Toffee is whatwhat we call in Chile Manjar, or in the rest of South America Dulce de Leche. I use to make it like that the whole time, but instead of boiling them in a conventional pot I boil the cans in a pressure cooker, in just an hour they are done, but always make sure to keep the cans covered with water at all times.

This toffee/caramel sauce can be found in the Mexican section of your grocer, called Dulce de Leche. Save yourself the trouble of making it. My mother used to make it, and spread it in the middle of an angel food cake, then frost with whipped cream. (40 years ago) This sounds delicious too!

My mom is from Uruguay/Argentina, and they make "Dulce de Leche" out of sweetened condensed milk like that. Something my mom didn't do, though, was boil it in a pressure cooker - you can cook it faster (40 minutes!) and then let it cool.

Love how you combine it with the bananas... I think I shall add three extra bananas to my shopping list... :)

It doesn't really matter too much if the bananas turn a bit brown since you are covering them in the brown dulce de leche anyway. That said, if you cut them right before assembling the whole thing, they wont turn brown since between the dulce and the whip cream, the bananas don't get exposed to air.

I tried this desert, and it was a huge hit. I was the easiest ever to make. I used all the short cuts suggested to save time. The sweetened condensed milk turned to toffee and it was delicious. Great recipe

Just wanted to let you know that I someone pulled this post and made it there own. I saw a sponsored ad on Facebook and it took me to this page: http://cakerecipeswithpictures.com/banoffee-danger-pie/ at the VERY bottom, there is the word Source with a link here but I still think what they did was wrong. Just wanted you to be aware.

Just wanted to let you know that I someone pulled this post and made it there own. I saw a sponsored ad on Facebook and it took me to this page: http://cakerecipeswithpictures.com/banoffee-danger-pie/ at the VERY bottom, there is the word Source with a link here but I still think what they did was wrong. Just wanted you to be aware. They also adding Pin it buttons all over.

I had a Sweets and Treats Ladies night out a few weeks ago and made your pie. It was huge hit. There was only 1 piece left and the hostess kept it. I am boiling 2 cans now to have when I want to make it. I will have to say living alone and not cooking so much I read you directions and it said to boil the cans and do not lift the cover for 2 1/2 hours. Well a had a big "DUH" moment not thinking of course the water will disappear I almost blew up the can and burned my pot. My daughter and I got a big laugh out of it. I now know better to add water. This is the easiest best tasty pie I ever made. Thanks for sharing!!

Made it today and can't wait to eat it tonight,the only weird thing to me was that there was no sugar in the whipped cream in the recipe. I put some in, but it seemed odd, especially cause cool whip was mentioned and that is very sweet.

I dont think the whipped cream needs sugar when added to this recipe but its all personal preference. Cool Whip is definitely sweet but as far as I know, there isn't a non sweetened pre made whipped cream so it was the only alternative for those who don't want to whip it themselves.

Like other people said, this is dulce de leche!! Please dont confuse it with toffee, we argentinians are very proud of this cuz we invented it! Its like our peanut butter, we use it for every dessert or sweet snack!

I made the toffee by dumping the sweetened condensed milk into a large bowl and microwaving for about 15 mins on 50% power.... turned out great.Watch it carefully because it really foams up...thus the LARGE bowl.Power and time will vary depending on microwave. Hint..when the foam reduces it's ready. BE CAREFUL it's Hot and sticky.

For the record - it is simpler to put your can of sweetened condensed milk in a crock pot full of water (completely submerged, as clearly stated above) and let it cook overnight on high (8 hours). Go to sleep, and in the morning: magic! No fussing, no hovering around the stove, no water boiling out. I like things simple :)

I made two of these pies, following the directions. What did I do wrong? They were both so runny. A friend told me she had tried this recipe and the same thing happened to her pie. Both ended up in the trash. I was so excited to use this recipe, BUT ended up so disappointed.

Seems some people have an issue with the dulce de leche turning out too runny. Did you wait for it to cool completely before putting it on the pie? That might help. Otherwise you can chill it a bit to make it more firm.

I have never seen a recipe with sweetened condensed milk boiled; however I do it all the time to make rice krispie cookies.When I tell people how they are made they ask,doesn't the can explode especially the new ones with pull tabs.I boil mine for 3 hours and while it still hot combine it with 6 cups of rice krispies,make into 2 inch balls and roll in coconut.Growing up we called them 'Muck Balls" and I still do.Everyone loves them unless they don't like coconut.They freeze well and should be kept in fridge.

We do a version of this at our house , but we use canned "dulce de leche" instead of making toffee with condensed milk. Since we live in Mexico finding the dulce de leche is very easy!!! We're going to try your version next time, thanks for sharing!

easternfan11, I think you are confusing evaporated milk with sweetened condensed milk....if it is condensed milk, it's sweeted, evaporated is sort of condensed milk not sweetned, it that makes any sense. lol

Note: In South America, that "toffee" you made is called "dulce de leche." It can also be made in a slow cooker -- put however many cans of sweetened condensed milk as will fit into the cooker, cover with water, and cook on LOW for about 7 hours. NO babysitting the water. It doesn't boil off.

I made this last nite and it is delicious but I had mine set up in the refrigerator for 3 hours and it still didn't set up enough that it would slice like pie. It was a mess in a pie shell. Anyone have any suggestions?